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Thenga Aracha Meen curry / Fish curry in Coconut sauce

At least some of my regular readers have been thinking I am cooking up a storm in my Kitchen. I got 2-3 e-mails asking the same :). But I am not :)..I am just trying to clear out my drafts so that I would get some inspiration to cook. ..Oh ..Oh ...definetly not that I got rid of my indolence all of a sudden. sigh!

In fact no exotic mallu dishes have been cooking in the kitchen for some time other than Dosa and Idli :). Oh come on, I need to give my alpha geek breakfast !!!

The ease of cooking Baked chicken, Grilled Fishand vegetables makes dinner effortless and N is always ready to take left overs if he has a brown bag session.

In Todays Recipe , Tilapia fillets are cooked in a ground coconut spice paste and flavored with Kudampuli or gamboge , popularly known as Fish tamarind. My mom always make Meen vevichathu(Kottayam Style fish curry) at home , ie like every day. But she makes this occasionally and especially after talking to my mom's sister in cherthala. I guess this is a famous prep in Alappuzha - Cherthala area. The curry itslef is rich with coconut paste, I love this so much , and do not necessarily need anything else with rice. But as you see, there is a Mathanga - Pappaya thoran( recipe below in this post) on the side which I made for N's love for Thoran

Recipe for Thenga Arachu vecha kudampuliyitta Naadan meen curry

Ingredients:-

Fish - 500gms ( I used 4 Tilapia Fillets )

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Red chili powder - 1.5 - 2 tea spoon

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tea spoon

Kudampuli / Malabar Fish tamarind / Gambooge - 2 medium pieces

Shallots - 4-5 nos chopped or half of a small onion

Garlic sliced - 6 cloves

Ginger sliced - a small piece

Green chili sliced - 3

Curry leaves - a handful

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tea spoon

Salt to taste

Oil - 2-3 table spoon

Directions:-

Clean and cut fish fillets to 2-3 pieces

Clean and Soak Kudampuli in 1/2 cup warm water for 5-10 minutes.

Grind Grated coconut , red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste to a very fine paste by adding a little water. Set aside

Good recipe. Jus came back from my first kerala trip. So good. I have been to thekkady, munnar, kochi and backwaters. so beautiful, but did'nt get a chance to taste actual kerala cooking, almost all the restaurants have north indian food.